Beyond the Pain
by Bedlam87
Summary: Some people have secrets that no one expects. What happens when some one decides to help Aaron with his? Even if it could cost them everything?
1. Prologue: Blood

Unlike most people, the smell and taste of blood was one of the few things he would never forget. There were very few days that he didn't wake up and smell or taste his own.

Today, the first day of summer between his junior and senior year, found him curled up in a corner of his room trying to spit out the blood that had started to congeal on his tongue. A small part of his minds wondered if the blood was coming from his gums, lips, or tongue, but most of him just wanted to shower and get the hell out of the house before his dad got back. His experience told him that even breathing was going to be excruciating for the next few days, but that he would survive without having to drag his ass to the hospital. Probably. All he had to do was survive the rest of the weekend and he could escape to the dorms for summer school.

_AN: Please let me know what you think. This is my first Covenant story and I'm pretending all the stuff with Chase is happening outside of the story, with just a few mentions of it. _


	2. Faking It

Aaron Abbott cringed internally as Kira ran her fingers through his hair while he rested his head on the wooden desk of his least favorite summer school class. He really despised the girl, but he really didn't have much of a choice. His dad was close friends with the Snider family and they thought it would be a great idea for the families to merge. He sighed as he felt her fingers dig into his hair again. _Only three more months_, he told himself, _You'll graduate, then you can get rid of the bitch. And the hair_. He was so lost in thought that he hissed when pain exploded in his side; a product of Kira's sudden sharp elbow into his ribs.

"You aren't listening to me are you," she said as more of a statement then an actual question. Aaron wondered if she even notice his suddenly pale complexion, or if he looked better than he felt. In all honesty he hadn't even realized she had started talking.

"I'm actually trying to listen to the lecture," he said through gritted teeth, trying to ignore the pain radiating through his probably cracked ribs.

"Why do you ca-" Kira's snarky voice was cut off the teacher's dry voice.

"Please, don't let my class interrupt your conversation," he said causing the few people attending the class turn in their seats to look at them. Aaron sighed as they suddenly became the center of attention, and Kira preened next to him.

"Sorry Mr. Keens," she simpered. Aaron rolled his eyes at her performance and turned his attention back to his books. "It won't happen again."

Mollified by Kira's performance, the teacher turned back to the board and continued lecturing on the wonders of pre-calculus. One by one the students returned their attention to the front of the room until the only person left looking at him was Evangeline Garwin. Saying she looked like an Irish angel was cliché, but it was the only way he knew how to describe her.

She had long dark red hair,that she always kept in a loose thick braid. It was long enough that it nearly brushed the waistband of her jeans. He remembered being surprised the first time he actually met her face to face, that her eyes were pale blue instead of green. He wasn't sure why he expected her eyes to be green, but he hadn't been disappointed when they weren't. It was common knowledge that she was born in Ireland, on the rare occasions she lost her temper her accent became more pronounced, but very few people actually knew anything about her life before she became a Garwin. She had the same snowy skin tone as her adoptive family's, so it was easy to mistake her as a blood relative. Her face reminded him of the fairies in the movies his little cousin made him watch, not that he could really say no to her, when he and his dad visited for the holidays. Evangeline looked fragile and elegant, but anyone who'd seen her yelling at her brother would know that she was no push over. It was easy to see why most of the boys at Spencer tripped over their tongues when she walked by.

Another nudge to his ribs caught him off guard and he couldn't hide his wince. He saw Evangeline frown at him while Kira hissed annoyingly in his ear.

"What are you looking at her for?" Aaron mentally kicked himself in the balls for getting caught.

"I'm not," he mumbled, doing his best to sound like his normal surly persona. Something moved in his chest when Kira dug her elbow in, and now even speaking was sending spears of pain from his shoulders to his toes. His head was on the table before he could stop it and stayed there until the class was finally dismissed. Thankfully Kira started chatting quietly with the girl next to her.

Aaron thanked whatever deity was listening that he could escape this Hell hole and hide in his room for the rest of the day. Before he could reach the relative safety of his dorm, however, he felt Kira's tentacle like wrap around his waist. Which also meant she hit his ribs again.

"Wanna have a little fun?" she asked trailing her finger down his shirt in a way she must have though was seductive. It just made him think longingly for the shower.

"I need to get some sleep," he said, detangling himself from her grasp. Before he could walk away, though, she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and yanked him back.

"I'll miss you," she said, tugging at him to get a response.

"Whatever," he said finally breaking free and walking towards his room. Being that it was summer school the halls were nearly deserted, so Aaron was able to avoid any of his so called friends. The sound of his key scraping in the lock sent a wave of relief through him and his pushed through the door before the door finished opening.

His bag was on the ground and he was ripping open his dress shirt as fast as he could. Every tiny movement of his arms sent shooting through him. A large ace bandage was wrapped around his chest, holding his ribs in place. When he started unraveling the long piece of cloth, he wasn't sure if it hurt more putting it on in the morning, or taking it off. When he finally wrestled the damn thing off he took a moment to look at the nearly black and purple bruises marring his tan skin. He glanced wistfully at the bed before heading into the bathroom to grab his bottle of pain killers. Only one pill landed in his hand when he turned the bottle upside down. He threw the bottle across the small room, an action that left him gasping for air as pain overtook him. He gave up on anything but sleeping and collapsed onto his bed. Luckily the bruising was mostly isolated to one side, so he was actually able to sleep. His shoes hit the floor with a thump and curled up on the queen sized bed, a perk of having a rich father. It didn't take long for him to drift away, or for the nightmares to start.

He wasn't sure how long he slept before whatever nightmare was tearing through his brain jolted him awake, nearly screaming, but part of him recognized that the pain wasn't as bad. After the fog of sleep had lessened, Aaron realized there was a familiar ice pack draped across the bruises. A bottle of ibuprofen had appeared on his nightstand while he was sleep, but he was too tired and sore to actually reach for it. He could hear the water running in his bathroom sink for a minute before it shut off and her footsteps headed for the bed.

"At least you don't have to pick a fight with my brother for a cover story," Evangeline said as she sat on the bed next to him. Her hand appeared in his line of vision with a glass of water and an individual packet of ibuprofen. He pushed himself as far up as he could to swallow the pills and drink the water, before sliding back down to set his head in her lap, letting his left arm hang off the bed. He wasn't sure how, but the feeling of her fingers running through his hair was completely different from when Kira did it. Maybe it was because Evangeline didn't rake her nails harshly across his scalp.

The motion of her fingers took the focus off the mess of his ribs, which he was extremely grateful for. He curled one hand around her calf and took her free hand in his, wishing life would make thing easier on him.

"But it's so much fun," He said sarcastically before wincing when she gently pinched him.

"Stop it," she reprimanded softly, "It's just me."

"I'm sorry," he said, unconsciously snuggling farther into her lap, "I'm getting too used to the mask."

"It's alright," she said returning her fingers to his hair.

"No, it's not," he said quietly, "I'm gonna die if I don't get out of here soon." He felt her fingers tighten slightly in his hair.

"Don't say that." He could hear the tears in her voice, and wished he could say something to make it better. But he couldn't.

"It's true," he said pulling himself up to sit next to her, leaning against the headboard allowing the ice pack to slip off, "but that's why I applied for early graduation, so I only have to make it through the summer." It was getting painful for Aaron to breathe with the pain shooting through him, and Evangeline could tell.

"Lay back down," she said gently pushing him back down until his head was back in her lap. She pulled the ice pack onto his side and a few seconds later her fingers were once again twining through his hair.

"Thanks Angel," he mumbled as he felt his eyelids begin to droop again. He never could seem to stay awake when she did that. The last thing he remembered was her lips pressing softly against his forehead.


	3. Hiding

The room spun quickly as Evangeline threw herself into her pirouettes. She blasted the music in the empty dance room and let her emotions pour into the dance. It was the type of dance that her strict, formal ballet instructors would never approve of. The raw emotion that poured out of her sent her straight laced teachers into prudish snips, so she had to wait until school was out before she could indulge in her what her teacher would call 'a useless exercise in emotional indulgence'. But she wouldn't survive without it. When the song finally ended, her shirt was nearly transparent with sweat and forming to her body like a second skin. For a moment he legs felt like jelly, while she staggered over to where her water bottle was sitting on one of the expensive, hand carved chairs. She got a small serge of satisfaction when she saw the water ring it left behind. She smirked until she happened to glance at the clock.

"Damn," she said. It was nine forty-five, which meant that if she didn't get to her dorm building in the next fifteen minutes she'd be locked out for the night. Her stuff was in her small duffle bag at the speed of sound. It was just so easy for her to forget the world around her when she danced.

When she pushed out the door she pulled her jacket tighter around her body as the wind picked up. Even the smallest gust of wind reminded her why she hated leaving the dance room at night when she was all sweaty.

She reached the door in record time and was thankful to see that all the other students had already gone to bed. She groaned when she saw the slouched form a few feet from her dorm room door. It was most likely her roommate, passed out from a drunken night of partying.

"There's no way I'm dragging your sorry ass inside," she said as she made her way over. It only took two more steps before she saw the blood and started running. When she was about a foot away she finally saw who it actually was.

"Aaron," she said crashing to the ground beside him. Blood was pouring from a gash in his head and he was barely breathing. Out of instinct she pulled as much of his body into her lap as possible and cradled his head against her chest. Aaron groaned when she moved him.

"I need help!" she screamed as loud as she could into the empty hallway. Without warning Aaron's body started jerking violently and Evangeline watched in horror as blood poured out of his mouth.

"Oh God please some help me!" she screamed before he went dead still.

Evangeline jolted awake, her eyes intently dropping to her lap. Her eyes were met with the dirty blond hair she was looking for, absent of blood of course.

The alarm clock by the bed told her that it was later run she usually stayed with him, one in the morning, and she debated whether she should go to her own room or stay with him. The idea bounced around in her head for about a second before she settled on the excuse of it being a Saturday, so they wouldn't have to be up for classes. She yawned quietly and pulled a pillow behind her head to avoid a sore spot in the morning. When she woke up for the second time the sun was just starting to peek through the dark blue curtains and Aaron was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't help but panic for a moment before she grabbed her cell to text him. The screen lit up with the touch of a button, and she was only slightly surprised to see the little envelope icon. The text message was open before she even realized she'd moved and she let out small sigh of relief when she read it.

**_From: A_**

**_Went to grab some breakfast. I'll be back soon._**

The message was time stamped at six thirty in the morning, and it was now six forty-five.

"Plenty of time for a quick shower," she said aloud, before reluctantly hopping off Aaron's very comfortable bed. After a quick peek to make sure the coast was clear, Evangeline darted to her room for her toiletries. Once she reached the showers, she was surprised to find Kira and three of her friends By the far stalls. Though from the smell of smoke in the air, she doubted they had suddenly taken up dawn showering. She snuck as quietly as possible into the stalls closest to the door. The hot water felt like heaven against her skin and she was more than content to let her mind wander. Until she heard something that brought her crashing back to reality.

"How was Keith last night?" One of Kira's friends asked. Evangeline turned the water as far down as she could without getting caught eavesdropping. Aaron might not really like Kira, she was pretty sure he hated her, but that didn't give her the right to mess with somebody else.

"Three times," Kira said.

"Orgasms or fails?" The blunt question launched the four girls into a round of laughter that left Evangeline rolling her eyes.

"Oh he definitely satisfied," she heard Kira say, followed by more tittering laughter.

"Is he better than Aaron?" Evangeline felt her hands clench at the question and quickly stepped back under the hot spray of water to loosen her muscles.

"Different," Kira said, "Aaron's perfect for a good hard fuck, but that's all he does. He won't even kiss me. So I go elsewhere for everything else I need."  
>Evangeline turned the water up higher to drown out the rest of their conversation. It wasn't long before she was stepping out of the shower and slipping into her robe. She put her watch on while she headed out the door and found that it was still too early for most students to be awake. So she didn't have to worry about running into any other students on her way to Aaron's room.<p>

Aaron was already lying on his bed when she got there, the smell of coffee and donuts filling the room.

"Good shower?" he asked. There were a few moments of debating whether or not to tell him about her eavesdropping, and eventually decided against it.

"Enlightening," she said before she tossed her bag on the floor of his bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Her towel was too wet to be any help drying her hair, so she grabbed one if Aaron's extras from under the sink.

"What'd you bring me?" she called through the door. She could hear Aaron chuckle, followed by a small groan.

"Donuts and coffee are on the desk," he called back. Evangeline smiled and tossed on her weekend clothes, which consisted of faded jeans and a light pink T-shirt.

"That I know," she said pointing at the rather obvious pink box and coffee cups sitting a few feet away, "I meant, what kind did you get?"

"The same as always," he said and she had to keep from squealing when she opened the box to find a dozen maple bars. She bit into the first one she grabbed and let the soft dough and glaze melt on her tongue. Their love of maple bars were one thing that Aaron and Evangeline shared in common. It had kind of become a weekend ritual to get a dozen to last them until Monday.

"These are perfect," she said. When she didn't get an immediate response, she spun around with a frown. Aaron had gone very pale and was staring at his phone with a look of shock.

"What's wrong?" she asked dropping her donut on the desk and crawled in next to him in bed.

"My dad want's me home for the weekend." he whispered.


End file.
